Wild Rover Pilot New Saturday Night Quiz for BBC One

The BBC has ordered a pilot for what it called the first truly interactive quiz show, in which viewers at home will be able to play against studio contestants in real time.

Wild Rover Productions and STV will produce You Against the Nation, in which five contestants must not only beat each other but also those playing at home.

Alan Tyler, executive editor of entertainment commissioning at the BBC, revealed in Cannes today that the broadcaster is prepping the ambitious format for a Saturday night primetime slot on flagship channel BBC1.

“It’s a truly interactive quiz show where contestants at home will play contestants in the studio. We think that’s a first,” Tyler said, adding that the quiz has been in development at the BBC for around two years.

“It’s taken a long, long time to find a mechanic where we can genuinely say to the home audience that if they play along with this they will impact what is happening in the studio. So it’s risky and uncharted territory,” Tyler said.

“Hopefully, it’s quite heartening, in terms of content generation, that we’ve taken that length of time to build a show that we really believe in and that we want to get right for the audience.”